OLIVER TAMBO
"WE ARE NOT FIGHTING PEOPLE, WE ARE FIGHTING A SYSTEM"
-oliver tambo, georgetown university, January 27, 1987
Throughout history, the issues of race and equality have been an ongoing fight between the people of a nation and its government. In South Africa, the fight still continues as black Africans, white Africans, coloureds, and Indians find the balance of power in government and in society. In the 1940’s up until 1994, black South Africans fought against the Pretoria government in an effort to expel the segregation laws of apartheid. Apartheid significantly reduced the power of blacks in society. Within South Africa, leaders within an organization called the African National Congress (ANC), were the backbone of the fight against apartheid. These leaders rallied the South African people to fight for their rights as citizens of South Africa.
The ANC would not have succeed in ending apartheid without Oliver Tambo’s establishment of alternate organizations to further promote the ANC’s mission. His creation of ANC military and political headquarters maintained the legitimacy of the ANC while it was in exile. Tambo rallied the world in his mission abroad to isolate South Africa until racial equality was restored. Although Oliver Tambo was not as revered or widely known as Nelson Mandela, he was the most instrumental leader within the ANC’s mission to end apartheid.
BY: ISABELLA ESTE-MCDONALD
The ANC would not have succeed in ending apartheid without Oliver Tambo’s establishment of alternate organizations to further promote the ANC’s mission. His creation of ANC military and political headquarters maintained the legitimacy of the ANC while it was in exile. Tambo rallied the world in his mission abroad to isolate South Africa until racial equality was restored. Although Oliver Tambo was not as revered or widely known as Nelson Mandela, he was the most instrumental leader within the ANC’s mission to end apartheid.
BY: ISABELLA ESTE-MCDONALD